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Tuesday, July 17, 2012

This week the Jewish Daily Forward is running a story and video interview about Naomi Kutin, a 10-year-old yeshiva girl from Fair Lawn, New Jersey who set three weightlifting records this year, lifting more than twice her weight of 99 pounds.

Ed and Neshama Kutin proceeded with caution as they trained Naomi,
researching the health effects of child weightlifting. But Ed Kutin said
he found that the typical warnings — stunted growth or injuries — were
nothing but “old wives’ tales.” Even so, Naomi started slowly, using a
14-pound bar instead of the typical 45-pound one. Soon it became
apparent that she excelled at squatting, which is a pose in which the
athlete crouches and then stands up, grasping a barbell across her upper
back. The Kutin family competes “raw” — that is, without supportive
clothes.

When Naomi was 8 years old, her parents brought her to
her first meet, in Clearfield, Pa. She lifted 148 pounds, setting her
first national record. Today, her purple-painted bedroom is dotted with
medals; a shelf of trophies overflows onto a pile of stuffed animals.

The Kutins are Modern Orthodox Jews — he became
religious as an adult, while she converted from Christianity. They
refrain from competing or practicing on the Sabbath. First, there is the
problem of driving to a meet. But even if the Kutins found a
competition close enough to walk to, they still might encounter halachic
quandaries. At powerlifting events, for instance, judges gauge the
quality of each lift by blinking a white or red light to indicate that
the maneuver either passed technical muster or didn’t. If a person
judging a Saturday meet happens to be Jewish, then the Kutins would be
violating Halacha by asking him or her to blink lights on the Sabbath on
their behalf.

Another problem has to do with the physical act of
weightlifting. The Torah prohibits carrying objects on the Sabbath to a
public area from a private home. Technically, Ed Kutin said, the family
could still lift weights in their basement gym. But this would interfere
with the restful spirit of the Sabbath. “We try to avoid it,” he said.

At most two-day powerlifting meets, women and
adolescents compete on Saturdays and men compete on Sundays. Because the
Kutins won’t participate on the Sabbath, Naomi must lift at the Sunday
meets, which are typically filled with muscle-bound, tattooed men. But
she isn’t intimidated. “They are an unusual look for us,” Neshama Kutin
said. “It’s not like you go to synagogue and see that.”

At Yeshivat Noam, Naomi, like all the girls there,
wears a long, dark skirt that covers her knees, as well as shirts with
sleeves that extend to just above her elbows. Naomi’s powerlifting
outfit — typically a spandex onesie with a white T-shirt underneath — is
a very different look. When she’s at home practicing, she augments the
outfit with a 10-year-old’s flair: turquoise striped knee socks and
candy-red ankle boots.

According to Neshama, Naomi’s teachers have cheered on
her powerlifting, placing a newspaper clipping of one of her
record-setting competitions in the hallway trophy case and playing video
recordings of her competitions in school for the girls’ classes. Linda
Stock, the assistant principal at Yeshivat Noam’s elementary school,
said that Naomi’s athleticism has earned her the admiration of her
peers. The powerlifting apparel, she added, does not clash with the
school’s modesty standards.

“I don’t think it plays into anything,” she said. “We
have plenty of kids who wear pants outside of school, or sleeveless
shirts. When they come in, they are dressed appropriately.”

In this video, Naomi and her parents talk about her unusual accomplishments. As she says, "It's kind of weird being stronger than an adult." Enjoy!

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2 comments:

What a charming young lady! May she continue to "have fun" with a physical activity. Congrats also to her family for keeping and modeling their religious and cultural values while letting their daughter expand her horizons and develop her impressive abilities.

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